First week of classes completed...wow

Wow is right. Well after one week it has been a very interesting 7 days in Taiwan. It is taking some getting used to the weather. I only brought three short sleeve shirts thinking it would be cool here but it is Halloween today and it is currently 90° with 59% humidity. I'm starting to take back my opinions that global warming is a bunch of crap. It's supposed to be "cooler" here this time of the year. I'm looking forward to that so I don't have to have a fan blowing on me 90% of the time. Oh yeah no air conditioning in this apartment. Great apartment...but no AC....good times.


Current conditions in Taipai, Taiwan as of 2:00 pm CST
Partly Cloudy
Temperature: 90°
Humidity: 59%
Feels Like: 97°
High: 85° Low: 74°

The first week of classes has been great. I have an excellent teacher and the the other five students in class are all learning very quickly, so that is good motivation for me. I'm probably the slowest learner in class (probably because I'm the oldest...well then again I'm also not the sharpest tool in the shed) but I make up for it practicing at home. The first week is getting familiar with the tones, pinyin and the MPS characters. The MPS is a real challenge for me, but after this weekend I should know it pretty well and it shouldn't impede my learning.

I'm not exactly sure how quickly I'll be able to learn things in three months. I can already understand things and hear things better in one week, but my spoken Chinese still is pretty awful. If I speak vvveeerrryyy ssslllooowwwlllyyy I can do it well, but that is embarrassing and no one wants to hear that either. So I'm just trying to practice and get the fundamentals as close to 100% and the rest will come int time (I hope). I was able to buy bakery goods and exchange the digital clock no problem speaking Chinese with the clerk, but my so so experineces at 7-11 and McDonalds have grounded any ego build up that I'm as good as I think I am at Chinese.

Today is Halloween and it is pretty cool to see a lot of tiny kids running around dressed up like princesses and Transformers. Halloween isn't a huge holiday here in Taiwan, but it is something that the kids are enjoying.

Also this Halloween is our 10 year wedding anniversary. It hasn't been the easiest 10 years, but someone making it married in Vegas ("Oh congratulations this is both of your first marriages!" was what the Vegas court official told us when we got the papers) for 10 years is like someone being married 25 years in other places around the world. No huge plans tonight, just go out to a nice dinner, have some drinks and relax.

It's been an interesting week. A lot of hard work (around 6 hours of studying Chinese a day for me) but I'm really treasuring this opportunity to travel, learn another language and culture and still not completely disrupt my other life I left behind in Los Angeles. I'm trying to play and practice guitar when I get the chance, and am actually getting my chops back. I haven't had good "chops" on the guitar in about 10 years, so I'm enjoying the challenge of getting better at the guitar and composing.

Stage 1 of my Tour de Taiwan is completed. I'll recover and review this weekend and start Stage 2 on Monday.

Jim